What Kevyn Orr told his mother when she asked why he has to cut Detroit pensions

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr speaks to a University of Michigan crowd in Ann Arbor on March 25, 2014. Orr, a U of M graduate, told the crowd he's trying to negotiate agreement on a debt restructuring plan for the bankrupt city to prevent asset sales and restore municipal services.(Khalil AlHajal | MLive)

DETROIT, MI -- As he tries to get agreement from bankers and retirees on his plan to slash debt, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr is describing images of his crying mother and a neglected Detroit school girl to illustrate the dilemma the city is facing.

"Our school children ride our city buses," he said. "... There was a little girl, a little princess, got a little pink backpack on... She's sitting on a bench, not in a shelter, on a bench, at a pole, by herself... That bus is late. She's out there in the dark. In a city where 20 percent of the housing stock is blighted, there are monsters in the dark... Does she deserve a better level of services?"

Meanwhile, Orr said, an elderly woman who retired from Detroit's workforce and fears the pension cuts proposed in bankruptcy court recently met Orr's mother and made her cry.

"When you're mama calls you, you tend to listen," Orr said.

"She said 'Kevyn, do you have to do this?' I said 'Mom, I don’t want to, but I’m here to make the hard call. That’s my job.' I said if I don’t do it, I risk victimizing that little princess. She won’t get those services. Her schools continue to degrade. Her housing stock will go from 20-25 (percent blighted). You’ll have more potholes. The lights will not get turned on. Forty percent of them are off. We will not remove blight. We will not do the things, the adequate level of services that any municipality should be doing for its citizens."

Tuesday's speech wasn't the first time he's told either story, but Orr appears to be perfecting their telling as he struggles to negotiate agreement on the city's plan of adjustment, which he claims would free up $1.5 billion over 10 years for improving city services.

Orr was appointed a year ago by the state to take over Detroit government and address its $18 billion debt.

He believes that with the help of $815 million in foundation and state funding proposed in a settlement to protect the Detroit Institute of Arts collection, he can keep the pension cuts under 10 percent for retired uniformed workers and under 30 percent for general service retirees.

But those funds depend on gathering agreement among creditors, and that's proven difficult, with bankers fighting back against deep debt slashing and retiree groups protesting pension cuts that could send some seniors into poverty.

"We need consensual resolutions," Orr told the Ann Arbor crowd Tuesday. "… There is a risk that if I don’t get their agreement, some or all of this money could go away because it is all pinned to the condition and precedent that there be consensual resolution to the claims in this bankruptcy.

"And that would severely impair the 94 percent I’m trying to pay to our uniforms and the 72 percent I’m trying to pay to civil (retirees)."

Orr said after the speech that the foundations that offered $365 million to go with $350 million in proposed state funding and $100 million from DIA donors for pension aid "are getting a little worried, after they offered $365 million, because we haven’t had any deals yet."